"Who am I? An idiot. An absolute idiot...” The man laughs sadly to himself, before jerking himself upright. “Oh, wait, you’re... where are my manners? Sorry. Introductions. I’m Quintus. Quintus Chevunier.”
Looking at your quizzical faces, he says, "It doesn't make sense, does it?! They’ve all gone missing--the shovels. And picks. Hammers. Rope. Lanterns too. Maybe it’s a thief? But maybe that’s what it wants me to think. There must be some significance... it’s probably staring me right in the face and I just. Can’t. Think of it!”
He tosses the paper doll at Fin-thir. "Here, take it! There's more where that came from! Oh yes, it always has more. More. More. More! It always brings them to me." He laughs, and it has an edge of hysteria. "It doesn't want me to think that its forgotten about me. A little present to remind me that its still watching."
"Where does it come from? The Mosquito Witch, of course!"
The paper doll is the same shape as the doll given to you by the venture-captain.
"Why, it was in my pocket...Or was it on my bedside table?! Ah, I know: I found it while I was dreaming, and it was in my hand when I woke!" Quintus scowls at the doll. "It’s following me. Ha... hah hahaha! Of course its following me. I’m being stalked by a doll!” Quintus wrings his hands. “ ’The iron cave will fall’... what is that supposed to mean? What do you want from me?!”
Looking more closely at the doll, Fin-thir realizes that the words "the iron cave will fall" are scrawled on the doll's paper scarf in jagged handwriting.
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"Take it easy, Quintus. Stay safe here in the tavern," Chulyin says. "We are here to get to the bottom of this plaque of mosquitoes and the secret of the Mosquito Witch. Can you tell us where you have been or who you visited here in town?"
The jaguar, off put by the man's erratic behavior, prowls around the room.
"You poor man, it seems you're being stalked by this witch in your dreams! We will get to the bottom of it, I assure you!"
To her colleagues, Miranda whispers "I do not believe he is sane... but perhaps we should consider using him as a sort of bait? If this Mosquito Witch is actually coming to him in his dreams, we may be able to use that..."
"Safe, ha! Nowhere is safe. I've been staying in the tavern, but is that what it wants? I shouldn’t have come... but no, that’s what it wanted me to do. It was trying to scare me, so I wouldn’t come...but what if it was being straightforward with me to trick me into thinking it was trying to trick me into staying away?” Quintus drops his head into his hands. “It doesn’t matter... it always gets what it wants.”
"A cult! Yes! Maybe that’s it! Maybe this was all a trap. Maybe the whole town is secret cultists! Ghlaunder cultists always let the parasites feast on them. But how does that fit in with the shovels?”
Throughout his pronouncements, the man appears absolutely sincere, though his mind is obviously a bit scattered.
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"Ghlaunder is a possibility," he agrees with the man. "Or the King of Biting Ants or Deskari. Many demon lords carry influence over swarms of vermin. A common theme or one, secret, underlying power. However, thank you for your time, Quintus."
He rests a gentle hand upon the troubled man's shoulder before stepping away and moving to the bar. He asks of the fellow there, "What can you tell us of the recent troubles with the swarms?"
The man at the bar answers Chulyin, "Did I hear you mention Ghlaunder? We don't hold with Ghlaunder round these parts." He gives you a stern look, suspicious of your interest in swarms.
Miranda gets a hard look in her eyes at the mention of cults of pestilence-focused deities. "If this is happening because of the worship of some horrid demon or other foul creature, we will remove their influence, I assure you."
The barkeep tells Chulyin, "I doubt it. We dealt with that last cultist we found around here."
Quintus considers the concoction, but then pushes it away, saying "I dare not take anything from a stranger. Not here! Two and four dead on the road..." He trails off, mumbling to himself.
"Well, we did the best we could. Killed him. Whacked him into pieces. Then burned his house to the ground with his body in it, and we salted the ground where the ashes were. Can't be too careful."
Miranda is appalled at the way that the cultist was dealt with, but can't fault their thoroughness, at the same time. She stays silent.
Qunitus replies, "I don’t know. I have to figure it out. It’s trying to make me do something and I have to make sure I don’t... ah gods, what if telling you was what it wanted? No, no, it couldn’t have known I would talk...” Quintus looks Erevan in the eyes and seems to calm down a bit. "Maybe the bugs are just getting to me. I should lie down. Thank you for talking with me. It was...nice." He starts to gather himself together and heads for the staircase that you might assume leads to lodgings upstairs.
The barkeep continues his conversation with Chulyin, "Iron cave? Can't rightly say. I've lived in Shimmerford my whole life and never heard tell of such a thing. Did Quintus mention that? I'm afraid he's gone a little...funny. We takes care of him as best we can, though."
If it seems that the man can be of use, Miranda will try to reason with him, speaking slowly and carefully.
"What can you tell us that might help us find the way to those people who died? Any little details could help."
"People who died? I don't know anything about that. Most people left town after an attack or too." The bartender scratches his head a bit.
"There were some outside folks that came in here to investigate the Mosquito Witch...haven't seen them in a while. There was a half-elf in gold armor. He headed into the forest to the northeast...what, sometime last week? There was also a man in clean white clothing who headed to the
east. I think I last saw him a couple days ago, but I couldn't give you an exact day."
"The woods, as far as I know. I don't venture into there--don't want to run into the Witch." The barkeep shrugs.
"So, will you be wanting rooms? Do you plan on staying long?"
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"Perhaps," Chulyin answers. "We will return if we need to stay in town before setting out to find the Mosquito Witch or whatever has set the vermin abuzz."
Turning to the others, he asks, "The baker is the last person left in town, I believe. We can look at the shrine on the way for the sake of thoroughness."
Heading through town toward the baker's house, you hear a disturbing noise--the screaming of horses, mad with pain.
As you enter the main road, you see that a runaway carriage is barreling down the street toward you. The carriage, pulled by six horses, tears down the road at a dangerous speeds, the animals driven wild by the biting bloodseekers—though the bloodseekers themselves were not fast enough to keep up with the carriage and are not present, though the horses are clearly bleeding from numerous tiny wounds. Four terrified passengers are clinging to the carriage.
The carriage is headed for certain disaster unless someone takes decisive action!
To save the passengers:
You can attempt one of the following checks to save a passenger. Everyone will get a chance to make one attempt. If you have a creative solution, I'm open to hear it--DCs will be similar to what the scenario calls for.
Leaping onto the carriage: Holding on long enough
to pull a passenger to safety requires a successful Acrobatics or Athletics check. If you succeeds, they extract one passenger and toss them to safety. If you succeed, you can continue attempting these checks until they fail, at which point you slip off the carriage and
cannot continue. On a critical failure, you will also take bludgeoning damage from the fall.
Calming the horses: This method requires a successful
Nature check. On a success, the horses hesitate long enough for one of the passengers to leap to safety, and two leap to safety on a critical success. On a critical failure, the horses charge at you, knocking youm aside and dealing bludgeoning damage.
Creating a barricade: This method requires a successful Athletics or Crafting check, and likely involves you quickly shifting nearby barrels or maneuvering nearby crates into a somewhat stable configuration. On a success, the barricade slows the carriage enough for a passenger to leap free.
Miranda leaps into action, literally, attempting to jump onto the out-of-control cart, heedless of danger, and try to extract a frightened passenger.
Chulyin's command slows the creatures enough that the final passenger is able to jump free. Just in time! The panicked horses dash the carriage against a curb and it over-turns, smashing to splinters. Anyone left inside of it would no doubt have been seriously hurt or killed.
The passengers thank you profusely and introduce themselves as travelers passing through the area. "We must leave, post-haste. I don't suppose there is another team of horse to be had in this cursed town."
They tell you that they are going to sleep the night at the inn and hope to board a riverboard tomorrow, or the next day at latest. In return for your hospitality, they give you a fine collection of silver jewelry and a minor healing potion.
After the scare with the carriage, the streets of Shimmerford return to their usual quiet buzz. Those of you that exerted yourselves saving the passengers keenly feel the renewed interest of insects drawn by your sweat.
Continuing down the street, you make your way to the Shrine of Hanspur. This shrine to the god of river travel contains a deep bowl of water that holds 5 copper coins, 2 silver coins, a few dead mosquitoes, and a paper Mosquito Witch doll that defiantly floats atop the liquid.
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The goblin takes gladly the presents of the passengers. All in all he risked his life for that. They could really give them something.
Further in the shrine he looks at the deep bowl, doubtful about what to think about it.
Strange. The mosquitos are dead but this paper doll doesn't drown. Is it a joke from somebody to give away these dolls?
The mosquitoes have been there for a variety of time. Some are quite water-logged, while some are fresher.
When you reach the baker's house, a gnome with rose-pink hair and yellow eyes answers the door. "Welcome, Anna Marmazine at your sevice! Can I get you rolls? Hardtack? Souvenir Mosquito Witch cake? Please, I haven't had a customer in days!"